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Changing/correcting Lines of Accounting (LoAs) in SPS/PD2


jodivs

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I am hoping there is a SPS/PD2 super user out there that can help me with the following conundrum:

SPS/PD2 does not let you change or update a line of accounting (LoA) after award.

I have a few situations now where the line of accounting is incorrect--numbers transposed, etc...

Payment cannot be paid until LoA error is corrected on contract/order.

I have created subCLINs with the description funding information only, and put the funding information on this CLIN (after making the main CLIN informational and subtracting funding). This seems to be an okay work around. I have to clean up and reword the summary of changes a bit, as not to confuse the vendor and DFAS, but it seems to do the job.

However, I now have a few situations now where I have to change LoA on subCLINs. For example, I have subCLINs 0001AA, 0001AB, 0001AC with incorrect LoAs. Since I cannot create a subCLIN of a subCLIN, is my best/only course of action to create new subCLINs 0001AD, 0001AE, 0001AF and label them as funding information only? From what I can tell, I must create a priced subCLIN in order for the correct funding/LoA information to appear.

Please help!

Thanks!

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I am hoping there is a SPS/PD2 super user out there that can help me with the following conundrum:

SPS/PD2 does not let you change or update a line of accounting (LoA) after award.

I have a few situations now where the line of accounting is incorrect--numbers transposed, etc...

Payment cannot be paid until LoA error is corrected on contract/order.

I have created subCLINs with the description funding information only, and put the funding information on this CLIN (after making the main CLIN informational and subtracting funding). This seems to be an okay work around. I have to clean up and reword the summary of changes a bit, as not to confuse the vendor and DFAS, but it seems to do the job.

However, I now have a few situations now where I have to change LoA on subCLINs. For example, I have subCLINs 0001AA, 0001AB, 0001AC with incorrect LoAs. Since I cannot create a subCLIN of a subCLIN, is my best/only course of action to create new subCLINs 0001AD, 0001AE, 0001AF and label them as funding information only? From what I can tell, I must create a priced subCLIN in order for the correct funding/LoA information to appear.

Please help!

Thanks!

I understand your frustration as I know many 1102s in your circumstance. I am unable to answer this question. I can suggest that your office hire an 1106 who is responsible for dealing with issues like this. One of the disturbing side effects of an "automated procurement system" - which is actually an annex to a financial management system - is the diversion of "procurement professional" time and effort from learning and applying procurement principles to chasing bits and bites through computer systems. 1102s need to spend less time perfecting keystrokes and mouse moves and more time reading the FAR or thinking about good business deals.

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Jodivs,

In our office, we simply zero out the funding contained in incorrect line of accounting, make a note in the description block as to why (incorrect LOA), and cite what new subclin (by number), we are adding with the correct LOA. Then we incorporate the PR line with the corrected LOA as a new subclin, adding a note in the description block citing the original subclin number that we are replacing and why.

This has satisfied DCMA, DCAA and DFAS, and several internal reviewers in the past. It is not as simple as it was in my earlier job in DHS where I could simply correct the LOA within the same clin or subclin, but I have not found another way to correct a LOA problem in SPS/PD2.

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dwgerald,

But what happens with your approach when you are dealing with annual funds and the FY ends? Say your award was made in Septemebr and in October you find an error and now must correct a LOA. The money is obligated so when you zerp out a LOA, isn't that money now lost?

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I have had this issue in SPS/PD2. Yes, this is a clerical issue and it is WRONG that a well-paid 1102 needs to deal with this.

Anyway, my strategy when establishing a new contract in PD2 was to always make the CLINs "info only" and to price out and fund the SubCLINs--for the very reasons you are dealing with. I did not like this "work around", but it saved me headaches when this contracting officer had to modify a team member's contract while they were on leave or whatever and I had to re-do their schedule because of an LOA change.

NO ONE understood this until they reached Post Award and they were dealing with LOA changes and what not. Oftentimes, if they did not set it up as described above in pre award, they had to revamp their entire CLIN structure (Sched B) because of the PD2 - LOA issue.

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dwrgerald--

not exactly--the money isn't lost. What we typically would do is zero subclin XXAA and create and place the funds on subclin XXAB, or whatever... The description of the services, etc is on the CLIN but the funds are on the subclins and you can create as many as needed, zero out one and add to another.

dwgerald,

But what happens with your approach when you are dealing with annual funds and the FY ends? Say your award was made in Septemebr and in October you find an error and now must correct a LOA. The money is obligated so when you zerp out a LOA, isn't that money now lost?

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dwgerald,

But what happens with your approach when you are dealing with annual funds and the FY ends? Say your award was made in Septemebr and in October you find an error and now must correct a LOA. The money is obligated so when you zerp out a LOA, isn't that money now lost?

Formerfed,

Think of it this way; the funding is not resident in an incorrect line of accounting-DFAS won't pay based on the incorrect LOA and there is no funding associated with the LOA, assuming the error does not lead to the LOA being a duplicate of another LOA that is correct. I am assuming that this is not the case in this situationi.

In zeroing out the incorrect LOA, you are not deobligating funding-there is no funding associated with the incorrect LOA.

In adding the correct LOA on another subclin, you are not adding funding, you are revealing the correct funding that was assumed to be there prior to the discovery of the error. The funding should be still resident within the finance system in your organization-it was assumed to be obligated up to the point when the error was discovered. If the funding is there, and associated in the finance system with the contract or order, then correcting the error by adding the correct LOA is NOT a new obligation, so should not run afoul of the FY rule.

You WILL have to explain this with your finance division, leadership, etc. should it involve the crossing of the fiscal year. I have had to do so myself, and have not run into any significant problems.

Baierle is also correct. In our methods of adding funding to a clin, the funding line itself with its LOA is an information only subclin and does not obligate the funding. The obligation occurs in the clin from which the subclin depends, and the clin does not have an LOA listed. So the obligation occurs via the clin, but the LOA information is contained in the subclin. I believe that they had the original posted problem in mind when this system was created.

The alternative is to allow a clerical error to determine funding, and to allow the computer software to have more control than we do. I choose not to allow that if at all possible.

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Thanks everyone for your replies.

Still rather annoyed that SPS/PD2 doesn't allow you to "correct" a LOA. It is, essentially, an administrative error. Correcting an administrative error doesn't technically add another line of funding to a CLIN/subCLIN, so we should just be able to correct and still not violate any DFAR regs.

Off now to create 14 new subCLINs to correct the LOA of 14 line items... B)

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...again, I empathize. been there, for certain!

I say, when in doubt, "slin it out"..... (subClin vs Clin upon establishment of new K in SPS/PD2)

Now, you can also de-ob line 0001 ( for example) and re-fund it on a new CLIN 0017 (for example). However, that starts getting confusing when you are in option periods. If you do it the way I learned to cope, you would only deob 0001AA and place the correct on 0001AB and the main CLIN remains Info.

Thanks everyone for your replies.

Still rather annoyed that SPS/PD2 doesn't allow you to "correct" a LOA. It is, essentially, an administrative error. Correcting an administrative error doesn't technically add another line of funding to a CLIN/subCLIN, so we should just be able to correct and still not violate any DFAR regs.

Off now to create 14 new subCLINs to correct the LOA of 14 line items... B)

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